Perfect Pearls

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Reported by Jenny Barnett Rohrs

I need to make a confession. Even though I'm a pretty hard-core multi-crafter, I'd never tried Perfect Pearls. Sure, I've used straight-up pigment powders for stamping and on polymer clay and I like those just fine. However, Perfect Pearls boasts that it has a built-in resin to help it stick to surfaces, and I thought it was high time to give them a go.

First off, I'll say I like the "kit" factor- PP's are packaged to give you 4 colors in a family, plus wide brush for dusting, and fine-tipped brush for watercoloring or working in small spaces. You also get a stamping square of Perfect Medium, which seems to be like a pigment stamp pad but without any pigment (kind of like a VersaMark pad, if you've seen those).

For my testing purposes, I decided to try stamping on different colors of paper to test the vibrancy of the pigments.

(stamp by Inkadinkadoo)

I stamped the 4 pieces of cardstock with the Perfect Medium, and then blended the blue and green colors from the "Aged Patina" color family, right on the paper. If you notice, I used both glossy and matte cardstock in white, just to see if it would stick well to the glossy.
Surprise, surprise! It stuck VERY well... and I loved how easy it was to brush off the excess. With the matte pieces of cardstock, I had to vigorously brush the excess pigment off, as it tended to cling. The good news is that even with vigorous brushing, the Perfect Medium kept the pigments right it place.


As you can see with this sample, the colors are incredibly vivid on black. Stunning! And what you can't see is the lovely iridescent factor.

Next I stamped some waterproof ink on watercolor paper, and added some water to the Perfect Pearls to make watercolor paints. The blue and green maintained a translucency- but the gold became almost opaque (note the butterfly to the far left).

Here's a sheet of white Premo clay that I embossed with a texture. On the left side I burnished some Perfect Pearls on with my finger. In the middle and to the right I used the big duster brush. What a great way to bring out texture in clay- and to change the color of the clay!
Same technique as above, but with black clay. Like the black paper, the result is stunning. I really like better on the dark shades than on the white!

Lastly, I had some stray powder on my watercolor paper, so I spritzed it with some water and played around with it. Again, I noticed that the gold was more opaque, while the blue, green, and silver colors were more translucent. I think I'd like this for backgrounds- and cheaper than those glimmery sprays, too.

I still want to try Perfect Pearls in Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, but for my first day's play with it, I'm impressed.

Here is the nitty-gritty:

Pros:

• Comes as a kit, with everything you need to get going!

• Color families are nicely coordinated.

• Resin is built-in, so you don't need to add gum arabic to make watercolor paint. Just add water!

• That resin factor makes it really merge with polymer clay to make a durable color.

• Multi-use makes it a good value!

Cons:

• Can't purchase colors individually, which means A) you'll end up with a lot of extra paintbrushes and stamping spots and B) you can't singly select the colors you want.
  

• Kind of pricey, between $10 and $14 dollars retail.

Have you been playing with Perfect Pearls? Have a tip or technique to share? Leave us a comment and let us know!